New country park is likely to be open by Christmas

Work on a new country park in Barkham is well under way and could be finished before Christmas.

Paths, ponds, fences and footbridges have already been completed at the site opposite Rooks Nest Farm in Barkham Ride and with the schedule well under way the park could be ready as early as December.

The country park aims to provide a Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) to mitigate the impact of thousands of new homes which are planned for the borough in the next 15 years and it is being funded entirely by developer contributions.

Councillor Gary Cowan, executive member for local and regional planning, said: “In the past houses were just built and our residents saw very little local benefit but the creation of a new 50 acre country park, which is the first of four paid for by developer contributions, is a fantastic scheme that will be beneficial to all our residents and hopefully will attract new visitors and wildlife for years to come.

“This project is really starting to take shape now with new footbridges designed to make the site very accessible. Work is ongoing on the planting of around 16,000 trees as is the construction of the new footway along Barkham Ride which is due to start next January.

“I am looking forward to seeing the new woodland planting take shape and to formally opening the site early in the New Year.”

Planning permission for the park was granted in August 2009 and a detailed landscape scheme was drawn up earlier this year before work started in July.

The plans include planting around seven hectares of new broadleaved woodland, the excavation of four ponds, the construction of more than 2km of new footpaths and a new car park. The car park has already been finished and around 16,000 trees are due to be planted this month.

Part of the site is also made up of the Brook Farm Meadow local wildlife site which was designated for its characteristic wet rushy grassland.

There are also iron rich streams at the site which were surveyed by the Berkshire Geo-conservation Group earlier this year and they are being considered for designation as a regionally important geological site.

The final phase of the project is the construction of a new footway along Barkham Ride to provide a pedestrian link to Finchampstead. The work on the footway is due to start in January 2011 but could be brought forward to enable the site to open earlier than the original proposed date of April 1.